Epilogue: Another Beginning
by Leopardess Mel
Summary: Two Weeks to Love' universe, epilogue. Seven months has passed since Kagome and Inuyasha's last meeting but a 'chance' meeting could be the last shot at a new beginning for the two.


**Disclaimer – **This is the last time you guys will have to work with me on this story lawyers! So don't worry and just put most of your focus on my second fic! And I'll make this one easy for you guys! Nooo!

**Two Weeks to Love**

**Epilogue: Another Beginning**

_7 months later…_

Kagome ran down the steps of the subway haphazardly, trying to put on her other shoe at the same time. "Argh! Stpuid shoe! Get…IN!" she grumbled, successfully shoving the shoe onto her foot. Unfortunately, the action caused her to lose her balance and fall forward.

'_Oh shit!' _

Eyes shut tightly, she braced herself for the onslaught of pain that was sure to come…huh? Where were all the bone breaking, terrified screaming, and blood dripping? Peeking out of an eye, she found herself sitting at the end of the stairwell, unharmed.

What was going on?

"This is the fourth time that this has happened!" she exclaimed softly to herself, staring down at the cold stone floors. "I'm always about to hurt myself in some way and before I know it, I'm perfectly fine! What is going on here?" Upon receiving multiple strange looks, Kagome immediately stood up, blushing a faint shade of pink. "Stupid! Don't analyze things while sitting on the floor of a _very_ public place!" she scolded herself, hurriedly walking away.

Slipping in through the subway doors, she took the empty spot next to a nervous, slouching old businessman. She felt pity for the man who was probably working much harder than anyone else trying to support his family and shot him a small, encouraging smile. The man didn't return the smile and instead swiveled his head away from her.

'_Jerk! I was just offering him a smile dammit! Hmph! Fine!'_

Throwing a glare at him, which he obviously missed, she turned away feeling her mood drop. As the train lurched forward, throwing many people off balance, Kagome felt something highly unpleasant on the lower half of her body. A hand.

Oh dear god she was being groped! Molested! Sexually harassed!

Heat flooded her face as Kagome felt her butt being terribly defiled. The hand gave a quick, almost experimental squeeze and she yelped. It was safe to say that Kagome had never felt so violated and humiliated in her life. (Excluding a few…rather unpleasant memories which had been blocked from her memory anyways.)

The hand was roughly pulled off of her butt (_'Thank you god!')_ and a loud, sharp cry of pain came directly from behind as well as a threatening growl.

"What the fuck is a man as old as you think you're doing?"

Kagome whirled around to spot the businessman she had smiled to earlier with his outstretched arm held in place by another, stronger arm. Following the length of the arm, she found a person around her age, head covered by a hat.

"I-I-…" he stuttered, looking even more nervous and jumpy than before. Beads of sweat slowly tailed down his face as his body shook. Other passengers turned their heads towards the three, talking in loud whispers.

The guy speaks again, his voice harder and more demanding with the evident disgust laced in them, "I asked what you think you were doing. Thought you'd cop a feel while no one was looking and then blame it on the subway suddenly moving?"

"T-Th-Th-That's n-n-not i-it!"

"Would you like it someone decided to grab your ass when all you're trying to do it head back home after a long day of work?" he asked, glaring.

The businessman couldn't even speak he was stuttering so badly.

Despite being violated by the man, she couldn't help but feel pity towards the perverted stranger. He was so shaking so much that he appeared to be having a hard time standing on his own two feet. Not only that but everyone was pointing at him and whispering. Forcing a small smile onto her face, Kagome spoke up, gently trying to remove the other man's hand from his arm, "It's okay. I'm sure that it was just an…accident. Right sir?"

He nodded, relief passing over his frazzled features. "Uh y-y-y-yes. It-it's j-j-just as th-th-this young lady says."

"See? It's alright. Thank you though," she remarked with a smile.

The capped stranger reluctantly released his hold on the arm but not before throwing an uncertain glance towards her. The perverted man took this chance to bow and run away quite literally. As she watched him disappear among the crowd of people, she turned back to properly thank the other stranger when Kagome was greeted with empty space.

"Huh…that's weird…where'd he go?"

Before she could ponder his disappearance, the subway came and the doors opened alerting her to hurry and get off the subway. "I hope it's not traffic time yet!"

- - - -

Kagome rushed across the street, trying to beat the oncoming traffic and reach her home. She knew she was taking a chance, recklessly running out into the middle of the street, but even so, her legs continued to pump forward.

'_Just a little further!' _

A loud horn honking caught her attention as she swiveled her head to the side just in time to catch the sight of the oncoming car, headlights flashing blindingly into her eyes. Realizing that she was about to get hit by said car, the raven haired woman could do nothing but allow of an expression of terror to cross her face as a similar one crossed the face of the driver, only his being horror.

Five seconds.

A total of five seconds had passed without her remember a single millisecond. Collapsed onto her knees, she stared at the road which was now lying in front of her with the driver of the car yelling obscenities ("You crazy woman!! You trying to get yourself killed?! Go do it on some other goddamn person's car!! Or jump off a damn building!!") which never reached her ears.

When Kagome had finally come to her senses, dimly wondering why she wasn't on the road as a mangled body dripping blood and staining the streets, she swallowed hard.

'_What happened? …One second I'm on the street and the next…I'm sitting on the sidewalk, barely escaping death…What's more is…I could have sworn that I saw a flash of silver and gold…'_

"What the hell are you thinking?!"

The voice drew her out of her thoughts as she nodded, a far away look glistening in her eyes. "Huh? What was I…thinking you ask?"

"Yes!" the voice hissed, anger seeping deeply into his voice. "What the hell are you thinking?! Rushing out into the middle of the straight while cars are coming!! Are you even thinking?! You could have died!!"

"I wouldn't have died!" she replied indignantly. "I'm still alive aren't I? And who are you to…" Chocolate brown eyes clashed with golden pools of amber.

"It…can't…be…Inu…yasha?"

When there came no response, Kagome struggled to her feet and instantly swiped at the hat sitting on his head. Long tresses of silver flooded down and a pair of koinu ears perked up, enjoying the freedom from the traitorous cap that had held them down.

"It is…you…isn't it?"

A clawed hand came up to run through those silver strands as he let out a frustrated sigh. "That's not important! What do you think you were doing?! What were you going to accomplish by running stupidly out into the street!? Did you want to give that car a new coat of paint or something?!"

"I…Inuyasha…" she breathed out, reaching out to touch him as if to confirm that he was indeed real and standing before her. Just as her fingertips brushed against his arm, he flinched and instantly drew back as though burned.

"Don't…don't touch me."

Lowering the hand, Kagome bit her lower lip, the hurt glistening clearly in her eyes at the sound of his words. "So-…sorry. I didn't mean to…sorry."

Inuyasha pretended to be blind to her pain and then continued on. "What were you thinking Kagome? What were you seriously thinking? Do you know how dangerous it is to just run out into the middle of the street?"

"I…I was thinking about how much I wanted to go home…" she answered truthfully, head bent low so as to avoid looking him in the eyes. "I knew what I was doing was dangerous…but I just…really wanted to get home as soon as possible."

Letting out another exasperated sigh, he shook his head and remarked, "I'm sorry for going off on you like that… It's just – god Kagome! You nearly gave me a heart attack! What would have happened if I hadn't been there to pull you out of the car's way??"

"I think we both know the answer to that one."

Silence settled between them as the two brooded over long forgotten memories and aching questions that needed to be answered; their last few memories between each other replaying themselves in their minds. Kagome was the first to break their silence, unable to hold her tongue in any longer.

"What…what are you doing here Inuyasha? I mean…I don't think its coincidence that you just happened to be walking by here and then spotted me," she commented, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

Inuyasha opened his mouth and then promptly shut it, eyes closed and brows furrowed. He didn't know whether to lies or the truths that her ears burned to hear. "I…I've been keeping an eye out on you…somewhat over these last few months. To make sure that…you wouldn't do anything stupid and because…" He frowned but finished the sentence regardless. "Because I was worried about you."

Bitterness entered her blood and ran through her whole body as she quickly bit back, "But you were the one that was saying you didn't love me anymore and that we shouldn't meet anymore! What should _you_ be worried about for? Much less for my well being." Kagome bit her lip deeply in regret. Despite being the one to receive more scars from their last encounters and his last words, she wished desperately she could take back her resentment.

"I…I know. And I'm sorry. I know that I don't have the right to be the one worrying for you anymore but…I just couldn't help it," he replied, lowering his own gaze in shame at her words. "Whenever I tried to stop myself from thinking about you or worrying about you…I just couldn't. I'm sorry."

Taking in a deep breath, he continued, ready to come clean. "I…Kagome…I know that this doesn't change anything…and I don't expect it to either. I also know that saying this now doesn't do either of us any good and will probably only end up hurting you, but…you have a right to know and I just can't…I can't keep this up anymore. I don't want to keep living with the knowledge of lying to you still fresh in my mind."

'_Lying…to me?'_

"That last time we talked…I……lied. From the second you came over to me to the second you left…I could only speak lies. I had every intention of telling you the truth that night. But when you came over, I felt all my resolution leave me and I panicked. Badly." He held a hand to his head in thought. "I know that I said that I didn't love you anymore on that night—and even worse, I went as far as telling you that I hated you. I won't lie though. For a short period of time, I really did hate you. But it was because you had suddenly left me and didn't return for five long years. It was hard for me…to suddenly live my life alone without you there by my side to fight with…tease…argue with."

Kagome was unsure of whether she wanted to stop him **now** before he went any further or just let him keep speaking. Or even slap him for making her go through all the stupid, unnecessary pain he brought her.

"This is going to sound extremely corny, but…it's my heart and I can't do anything about it. From the day that I first met you, I held nothing but love for you in my heart despite not acting like it on the outside. I wanted to be the only one that got to see your smile, hear your laugh, kiss your lips, and feel your love. I never wanted another man to even look at you. I wanted you all to myself. But that night…I was so damn scared." Hearing his voice crack, the raven haired woman lifted her head to see crystal droplets of liquid running down his face as an arm covered his eyes.

"I was so damn afraid of what would happen. Because whenever we finally thought we were going to begin the rest of our lives together, something bad _always happened._ Something to stop us living together for the rest of our lives always happened. And last time…that something nearly got you killed. And it was all my fault. It was _my fault_ that you had to come so close to dying. And so I was just so fucking scared I couldn't even think straight…and before I even knew it, I was making up stupid stories of not loving you anymore. And then I couldn't stop myself because…I really was just too scared…" Inuyasha took in another deep breath to try and control his sudden crying spell.

Before letting him continue, Kagome took this pause to say softly, voice hard, "And what does this change Inuyasha? It doesn't make the pain that I've endured and carried for all these months any lesser or any less painful."

"I know…I told you from the start that I didn't expect this to change anything. I know that telling you this changes nothing and it's not going to magically let us give our fucked up on and off relationship a new start. We can't start off with new, clean slate. It's just that…I couldn't stand knowing that I had lied to you and ended everything like that."

"So…you just told me all of this to clear yourself of your guilty conscious?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, it's not like that! It's not like that! I just wanted to…I just wanted to tell you all of this so you'd…know. I'm sorry. It's just that…when you stepped out there and I saw you almost gone right before my eyes, I realized that I just couldn't go on without having you know the truth."

"Oh…well…are…are you done? I – I have to go," she spoke, mind in a daze and eyes unfocused. "I…have to walk…my refrigerator."

Kagome brushed past him, ready to leave when a persistent hand gently grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back slightly. Staring straight into her blank brown eyes, he said softly, "_I'm sorry_."

The two words snapped her out of her daze and Kagome found herself replying to his apology with words she had truly meant.

"Me too Inuyasha. Me too."

After a moment of hesitation, the hanyou added, "And…I…I love you. Even to this day, this hour, this minute, this very second. I love you."

The raven haired woman desperately wanted to repeat her earlier words knowing that she would have never spoken truer words if she did. Because truly, Kagome _did_ still love Inuyasha. Despite all of the pain and tears her relationship with him that had been brought with it, and probably will continue to bring, she just knew in her heart that she would never be able to love another man as much as she loved him. And there was no use in trying. Maybe…now she could accept that fact. And truly stop struggling and trying to forgot a love that she never wanted to end…a person she never wanted to let go.

Offering him a small, somewhat forgiving smile, she remarked, allowing herself to be openly honest with him as well as herself, "Me too Inuyasha. Me too. But…it doesn't change anything. And like you said earlier, we can't just magically forget the past and wipe our slates clean."

Inuyasha nodded, a tiny smile adorning his lips as well. He had known from the start that nothing would change and he hadn't expected anything. However, like with everything else, there was always that smallest glimmer of hope that could not be crushed. No matter how hard he tried. And with it came the larger pain of acceptance.

A look of confusion crossed his face as he watched Kagome look up with a surprising sight. Her first genuine smile. One that he hadn't seen in what seemed to be years. Why was she smiling at a time like this? Left speechless by her odd timed smile, he couldn't move when Kagome grasped the fabric of his shirt and pulled him in, locking their lips together in a light kiss.

Pulling away first, he noticed the smile never left her lips. He could only stare dumbly at her, completely caught off guard by her sudden kiss.

"But…that doesn't mean we can't try. Right Inuyasha?"

The words finally clicking in his mind, Inuyasha slowly allowed a real to stretch across his lips as well. That tiny, indestructible glimmer of hope now growing into a ray. "Only if you really mean it…"

"Of course I do…"

Inuyasha wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer and in one fluid movement, tilted her head upwards to murmur softly against her lips, "You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear those words…and how badly I've wanted to kiss you again…" He wasted no time in capturing her lips in another sweet, gentle kiss which was just the start of another, new beginning for them.

- - - -

**The End.**

(Seriously this time!) Okay this was written as a request from **omygeeitsme**. And making it this happy…corny fic was my choice since that's what people like! It's really rushed so I apologize about that and if it was a pain to read!

Hope you enjoyed **omygeeitsme**! And everyone else that read this! (if anyone, it's so terrible XD)


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